Star Wars: A Raid Gone Wrong
by Gabriel Tassoni
Summary: Meet brigands Kriplar and Riordan along with their astromech droid, Beeper in the first installment of the Kriplar and Riordan series


A Raid Gone Wrong- a Kriplar and Riordan story

Meet Kriplar Hashig the Kalleran and Riordan Riggs the Phindian. This particular duo were bounty hunters who dabbled in the art of thievery when opportunity knocked.

Kriplar was green skinned and 2.1 meters tall. He sported a blue and red military jumpsuit stolen from the Minnorveen Militia, white breeches from a Retail Caucus technician, along with a Kerkoidian military Kama, all stolen off soldiers of varied vital signs. Kriplar was armed with an electro staff/blaster, gauntlets with explosive disc launchers a grappling hook and a Taser. Along with these, Kriplar also wielded a DL-18 blaster pistol.

Riordan was far shorter at 1.7 meters, though he usually moved on all fours due to his long Phindian arms. Riordan had dark mustard skin and purple eyes. Riordan clothed himself with a stolen imperial boilersuit as an undergarment, a custom armour plate gifted by the black sun for his service, and a black Shaak hide weapons vest, He also wore a chromium helmet that covered the back of his head and rested his retractable red visor whilst leaving his mouth uncovered. Riordan wielded a custom fitted Tognath sniper rifle, K-16 Bryar blaster pistol, right gauntlet with a custom mini-rotary blaster, left gauntlet with a grappling hook and concussion rocket launcher.

The duo were travelling through hyperspace aboard Riordan's Lancer-Class pursuit craft. Riordan sat at the controls whilst Kriplar stood behind the entrance to the cockpit.

"Two minutes till we drop out of hyperspace." Said Riordan. "Beeper, prep the stabilisers."

Riordan's, C2-series astromech droid Beeper rolled by and tripped over Kriplar.

"Beep Bloop, Hehehe." Whirred Beeper as he plugged into the data systems terminal.

"Riordan! Tell your droid to stop bullying me!" pleaded Kriplar.

"Beeper, Behave." Said Riordan sarcastically.

"Where is this freighter even travelling to?"

"My source said Mimban to Fondor." Replied Riordan.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace. Kriplar and Riordan looked out the cockpit to see a class four imperial freighter.

"Bingo" said Kriplar excitedly.

"Jamming transmissions now. Beeper, divert power to the ion cannon. Kriplar, go to the docking tube and prepare for boarding, you need to head to the cockpit and take care of the pilots." Ordered Riordan as he tapped at the various buttons and switches at his disposal.

The ship swerved past the freighter, Riordan fired three ion shots from the dorsal turret. Blue sparks jittered across the freighter. The engines cut out and the freighter began to float lifelessly. Riordan manoeuvred his ship into docking position. The suction ring pressurised and the freighter-docking hatch opened.

Kriplar jumped down the hatch and into the freighter, two stormtroopers ran round the corridor and began firing at him. Kriplar ignited his electro-staff and pounced. He knocked the first trooper in the head and tripped the other one over. Both troopers dropped dead and another three ran at him. Kriplar swung his staff aside and upholstered his pistol. After firing a few shots, he spun round into a corner. The stormtroopers fired at the corner but could not hit Kriplar from the angle. Kriplar turned and fired a few shots but could not hit the troopers either.

The troopers advanced on Kriplar, he was out of options.

'POW, pow, pow.' Kriplar looked around the corner to find Riordan standing with his now smoking rifle still rested in firing position. He lowered the rifle and turned to his associate.

"You are an awful shot" sneered Riordan. "You are going to do better than that from here on. Beeper detached; we will meet him at the co-ordinates we planned."

"Well at least I can wield an electro-staff!" growled Kriplar.

The duo began bickering profusely. Whilst they were distracted, a black trooper walked round the corner and warbled in surprise. Kriplar and Riordan ceased their bickering and turned their heads. The trooper lifted his E-11D blaster and was about to fire when, 'PEW,' Kriplar had upholstered his pistol and hip-fired a shot. The trooper's mask sparked where the blaster bolt had penetrated it. The trooper dropped dead with the cluttering clash of his armour plates against the durasteel floor. Riordan's jaw dropped in amazement.

"There, happy now Riordan, I got a headshot with a hip-fire. When was the last time you did that?" said Kriplar proudly.

"You idiot, that wasn't a stormtrooper. That was a death trooper."

"Well that just makes it all the more special." Said Kriplar arrogantly.

"No, you deadbeat Kalleran. Death troopers travel in squadrons of ten. That means we have at least another nine to deal with."

"Then it looks like we have to kill the rest. Big deal." Sneered Kriplar.

The duo stuffed their kills into a storage locker. Riordan turned to Kriplar and gave instructions.

"Not yet, you go disable their sentries. I will go and sabotage the engines to drop us out of hyperspace before we reach Fondor.

Kriplar foxtrotted through the halls, 'careful' not to run into stormtroopers. He snuck into the brig to find the sentries hooked up to their charging stations. Kriplar knelt down and opened the main droid control terminal. He played at the wiring. Whilst twiddling with the cords, a systematic beeping sounded.

"Hmm, I must have disabled the droids then. Easier than I expected." Thought Kriplar.

Kriplar summersaulted back up and walked out the brig. As he left the room. He heard a whirring behind him. Kriplar turned around to see four pairs of red eyes activate.

"Karabast!" He mouthed. Kriplar twisted round and darted through the hallway, knocking over another stormtrooper.

Meanwhile, Riordan placed the final additions on the engine override. A metallic purr ran through the engine. Riordan smiled victoriously and walked out the engine room to see Kriplar run hysterically towards him.

"Did you deal with the sentries?" asked Riordan sharply.

"Robot, beep bloop, red eyes, reverse of shut down, major problem!" Panted Kriplar.

Riordan swung his fist and punched Kriplar in the face. "YOU ARE A COLLOSSAL IDIOT. DEATH TROOPERS AND DROIDS. Let us just get out of here. We can get Beeper to pick us up."

The duo looked out a window to see blue streaks appear.

"I guess we are stuck on the ship." sighed Kriplar.

On the bridge, the captain supervised the technicians at their stations. A pauldron wearing death trooper entered.

"What is it commander?" asked the captain drolly.

"One of my death troopers went missing along with four of our regulars. I suspect stowaways."

The captain raised an eyebrow. "Then find them commander, I will not have these brigands pillage the empire's supply lines."

A technician alerted the captain and the commander, "Sirs, the engines appear to be malfunctioning. Projections indicate we will drop out of hyperspace a parsec short of Fondor."

The captain was furious. "Send a distress call and explain our situation. Commander, find our stowaways!"

Back in the hallways of the ship, Kriplar and Riordan snuck around, careful not to alert any more troopers. Whilst they were tiptoeing, an inventory droid walked around a corner and looked at them.

'Unidentified personnel. Classification: intruders. Alert! Transmitting alert!'

Riordan pulled out his K-16 and blasted the droid's head off. The duo turned and ran back down the hallway. The sentry droids marched towards them and fired their blasters.

"Not that way!" exclaimed Kriplar.

They ran down the other end. Death troopers ran round the corner.

"Poodoo!" snapped Riordan.

Luckily, there was a passage in the middle of the hall to the supply hold. Riordan pulled Kriplar towards the passage and they darted for the supply hold. The duo dodged the barrage of laser fire as the door closed. Kriplar fired his Taser upon the door control before upholstering his blaster and turning the panel into scrap. The duo turned around to see four stormtroopers rush over and raise their blasters. Riordan swore under his breath before pulling out his pistol and firing at the first trooper. Kriplar flipped in the air, landed on a stormtrooper before kicking off him and clobbering another. Riordan shot the final trooper before holstering his pistol and unclipping his sniper rifle.

"Maximum 20 seconds before they bust through the door. Go make sure there are no more surprises waiting in the supply hold." Rushed Riordan.

Kriplar leaped upon a crate and summersaulted away. Riordan turned to the door, tuned his rifle and focused his aim. The cutting laser carved through the door, the droids marched first. Riordan unloaded a flurry of heavy laser fire upon the droid vanguard. The droids fizzed and sparked as they fell to a halt. Unfortunately, the heavy armour gave the death troopers time to surround Riordan

"Hands up!"

Riordan flicked his visor down and lowered his rifle.

"Drop the rifle and raise your visor. NOW!"

Riordan grinned. Kriplar flipped into the air and landed atop a death trooper. He flicked his electrostaff into combat position and smashed another trooper in the head with it. The remaining troopers were astounded. Riordan raised his rifle and fired straight into the chest of another. Another trooper aimed at Riordan's head and he rebutted with his rotary gauntlet.

The remaining five troopers took cover behind a few crates. An alert chimed on the commander's comlink.

"Everyone retreat to the starboard docking tube!" warbled the Commander.

Kriplar and Riordan were confused as to why they were retreating. Kriplar prepped his launcher and fired an exploding spinner down the hallway. The blast but the commander and his remaining squad mate killed three death troopers.

Once the two escaped troopers were out of sight, Kriplar and Riordan abandoned their cover.

"Try patching into their communications network and seeing what is going on?" suggested Kriplar.

Riordan nodded and adjusted the antenna on his visor and opened his comlink.

'Zzapp, Zzapp,' ISD Rapacious, we are moving into position to dock externally, over.'

"Crap! They called in a star destroyer. What are we going to do, we haven't even raided the ship yet!" exclaimed Kriplar.

The network warbled again. 'Freighter. This is Commodore Bonthorne of the ISD Rapacious. I am sending troopers aboard. Please maintain position whilst shuttles travel into docking position.'

Riordan grinned. "The commodore of that star destroyer doesn't want to dock with the freighter. If she is sending shuttles instead, that gives me an idea."

Riordan pressed his visor and contacted Beeper. "Beeper, when you drop out of hyperspace, attack the star destroyer."

'Bleep, whop boo.'

"I know it's incredibly risky but I have an idea!"

'Beep.'

Beeper dropped the ship out of hyperspace and began his approach to the battleship.

On the bridge of the Rapacious, Commodore Bonthorne stood proudly as the sentinel class shuttle began docking with the freighter. Bonthorne was a slender woman of around 28 with auburn hair and a rather saccharine tone in her voice that still managed to command authority. She noticed a brown plated ship flying towards her star destroyer.

Commodore Bonthorne turned down to the portside operation pit. "What is that ship doing here?"

"Commodore, we detect an unidentified ship moving into attack position against our destroyer."

Commodore Bonthorne was perplexed by the situation. Nonetheless, she relied on her naval training. "Fire the forward most dual pursuit cannon."

Beeper evaded the forward cannons through a series of shifts and flips. A few of the missed shots struck the freighter. Commodore Bonthorne became nervous.

"Cease fire! Further hits on the freighter could cause an explosion."

Beeper fired relentlessly at the bridge before doing a turn and taking a strafing run at the hull.

Bonthorne squirmed in fear as each hit struck the viewport. The shields absorbed each hit effortlessly.

"Commodore Bonthorne, he has done no damage to our ship. Without shields, we are still impervious to his attack. Shall we launch fighters?"

Bonthorne nodded. "Maintain bridge shields; lower all other shields in order to launch fighters. One squadron with two interceptors as flight leaders."

Beeper noticed the TIE fighters launch from the ventral side of the ship. He spun the turret into rear defensive position and prepped his forward cannons.

Bonthorne watched the skirmish play out before her. Despite a squadron of her pilots being blown to pieces, she was confident the freighter would be secured.

"Madam Bonthorne, the shuttle has departed the freighter."

"Have they transmitted the victory code?"

"No, they haven't."

"Priority transmission coming from the freighter." Said another technician

Bonthorne was becoming increasingly nervous. "Patch them through."

"Commodore Bonthorne, this is the captain speaking. The pirates sabotaged the reactor and fled on the shuttle. The security detail are all dead."

The commodore clenched her fists to contain her rage. "Detach the supply hold and head to the escape pods. We must not allow the shipment to be damaged."

The shipment detached and floated away. The crew abandoned the freighter. The freighter continued towards the Rapacious. Both the shuttle and the enemy ship clamped onto the shipment. Bonthorne realised why they destabilised the reactor.

"They are stealing the shipment!" shouted Bonthorne. "Launch fighters to intercept!"

A scanning technician alerted the commodore. "The freighter is reaching critical mass and the projected blast radius will affect our ship."

Bonthorne scoffed. "The deflector shield will protect us, extend the shield coverage."

"Madam, when we receded the shield the unused projectors went into reset."

Commodore Bonthorne looked at the technician in horror. She turned to see the freighter explode as it reached the bow of the ship. Bonthorne shrieked as debris flew and parts of the front hull peeled back and blew apart. To make matters worse, the shipment disappeared into hyperspace.

Meanwhile, Kriplar and Riordan plundered the shipment before detonating the remainder and flying off into hyperspace.

"Great haul if I say so myself." Kriplar chuckled.

"Let's see if Sniggler can get us a couple credits for this shuttle." Grinned Riordan.

The duo laughed and Beeper beeped along.

"What do you reckon happened to Commodore Bonthorne or whatever her name was?" asked Kriplar.

Back on the Rapacious, Commodore Bonthorne oversaw the minor repairs to the front of the ship with great solemness. She knew that the damage to her star destroyer was the least of her problems. A lieutenant walked up beside her.

"Commodore, Fondor is contacting you."

Commodore Bonthorne simply frowned.


End file.
